Projects For Home And Life:
Building Your Forge
by Corcceigh Green
Creativity with the forge is unlimited.
The ability to work with and shape scrap metal into useful tools, should be at the top end of the skill list for Independent Americans. This skill is helpful whether you are in need of a new butcher knife or are pounding out custom tools for profit. For hobby or making a living, blacksmithing is an advantageous skill.
Building a forge is not at all that difficult. This article will take you through some steps that you will be able to duplicate for yourself to create your own forge. I will also include some tools you'll want on hand and how to make or collect your own fuel.
Let's start with what you'll need. First on your list will be a dais for your forge. A dais is necessary to keep you from working off the ground. Though, I have seen Indian blacksmiths working on a forge built at ground level, Americans have found it more comfortable to work standing up with their backs straight.
Your dais can be made from metal or brick, concrete, or cement. In this column, I will detail two types of dais made from a metal shelving material and concrete block.
The metal shelving can be purchased from discount stores. Purchase the small three shelf style. This should come up to your waste when fully assembled. Be certain to follow the instructions and include all of the braces and brackets when assembling the shelves. This will keep your dais stable and strong enough to hold your forge when you build it on the shelves.
A small metal shelving unit can be used as your forge's dais.
For the concrete block dais, you may purchase six 16”x7.5”x7.5” concrete blocks. Place the first block on the ground so that a solid side rests on the ground with one solid side up and you can see the holes looking from the side at ground level. Stack the other five blocks on top of the first in the same manner.
The concrete block dais is stronger than the metal dais and if placed on level ground is stable. The metal dais is lighter, if you need to keep your operation mobile, can be made stable on slightly uneven ground, but you must watch it closely, so that it does not overheat, burn through, or become weak and unable to hold your forge. Placing a thicker piece of metal across the top of your metal dais will shield it against the heat more readily.
If you are careful, it is possible to use a wood stump to place a concrete block on for your forge's dais. You should not use this as a permanent fixture, however, and do not allow coals to fall onto the wood.
With your dais set up, you may build your forge on top. For the metal dais without the thick piece of metal to cover the top, you will need twelve firebricks total. Lay two firebricks down side by side in the center of the dais. The firebricks' length should be lain in the direction of the dais' length. Place another firebrick with it's length running ninety degrees to the first two. The last brick should be against the ends of the first two.
Place another firebrick with it's length running in the same direction as the first two against the end of the first brick you laid. Looking lengthwise from the direction of the bricks running lengthwise, you should have one firebrick running longwise into the end of another firebrick that is situated by another firebrick, both running lengthwise. The ends of these last two firebricks will be against a single firebrick running across the direction of the other two.
The first placement of firebricks.
You will want to protect your metal dais from most of the heat generated by your forge, so you will need to add an extra layer of bricks across what will be the bottom of your forge's box.
Do this by laying another brick on top of the odd, single brick running lengthwise with the dais' length. Next, lay a brick across the bottom ends of the two bricks running lengthwise with the dais' length. Lay two bricks side by side, running lengthwise with the dais, against the end of the brick running crosswise that you just laid. This will be the reverse order of the firebricks that you first laid on your dais, with the exception of the odd, single brick running lengthwise.
A double layer of firebricks will help protect the metal dais from heat.
Now, you will need an iron pipe to act as a tuyere. The tuyere is a fixture where air can be forced into the forge box. The forge uses the extra air forced in as fuel and will burn hotter. An eighteen inch long, one inch diameter, black pipe will work very well. The eighteen inch length will work well to position the outside opening of the pipe away from the heat of the forge, so that you may affix a hose for your bellows or blower. The one half inch diameter is the perfect size for forcing the correct amount of air in to the forge box.
You will want black pipe, instead of galvanized pipe. If you absolutely MUST use galvanized pipe, you will have to “burn off” the zinc in the forge before you can create a blacksmithing project. When a galvanized pipe becomes heated, the zinc that is used to galvanize the pipe will separate from the pipe and chemically bond with oxygen in the air. This forms zinc oxide, which is a poison.
If you choose to use galvanized pipe anyway, place as much of it's entire length in your completed forge as possible. Load your forge with fuel and begin to burn. Staying upwind and as great a distance from the forge as possible, begin forcing air through the pipe. Three or four hours should suffice to burn the zinc off. When finished, turn the pipe around, (It's OK to wait for the next day.), and repeat the process.
Place your iron pipe on top of the odd, single firebrick. Position it so that a portion of the pipe's inside opening rests on top of the firebrick that your odd, single brick is positioned against. This is where you will want your tuyere positioned to force air into your forge.
Now, you will want to close in your forge box. This is a simple task of merely building walls upon the firebricks that you've laid. Place one firebrick, edge down and even with the edges of your lengthwise bricks, across the opposite end of the forge from where you've placed your tuyere. Place another brick, edge down, running lengthwise and even with the outside edge of the bricks forming the floor against the brick you've just placed and repeat this on the opposite side.
Placement of firebrick wall and tuyere.
To enclose the end where your tuyere must enter, mark a firebrick five sixths of the way lengthwise. Using a masonry chisel, lightly tap a line in the brick along your mark. Repeat this until a channel is formed in the brick about three quarters of the way through. Turn the brick over and sharply tap along the backside of the channel with a trowel until the brick breaks along the channel.
Lay the longer portion of the firebrick, edge down and even with the outside edge of the floor bricks, on the side of the tuyere that is more open. Lay the shorter portion of the firebrick, in the same manner, on the opposite side of the tuyere. You have just completed your forge.
Forge box enclosed around the tuyere.
The completed forge.
When the metal dais using the thicker metal covering the top is used, you need only lay a single layer of firebricks on the bottom to create the floor of the forge. The thicker metal will help to protect the dais from the heat of the forge. Place all of your other bricks and tuyere in the same manner.
You will not need to worry about heat affecting your concrete block dais. Place the firebricks for your forge box as described above for the metal dais. The exception to this will be the odd, single brick that holds the tuyere. You will need to place it crosswise against your other firebricks, due to the room available on a single concrete block. You will not need to place a double layer for the floor. The concrete block structure is plenty strong enough, but you may need to place another concrete block dais directly behind and against the first to give you more room, if you are not satisfied with the room available for your single stack dais.
Build your concrete block forge in the same manner as your metal dais forge. You may need a second stack of blocks for more room.
Yet, another dais can be made by building a small wood frame structure, waste high, and about 32”x16” square. Box this in with plywood and fill in with cement or concrete. If you can find some reinforcing rods to weld a structure inside for reinforcing, your dais will be stronger. Allow this to set. Remove the plywood and build your forge on top as you would for the metal dais.
The above would be the strongest and most stable structure, but once in place, you will not be able to move it. It will be a permanent structure.
The dais and the forge are part of the machine that will help you to heat metal for working. To actually work the metal, you will need to have some tools on hand.
First in your consideration is the anvil. The anvil is a large piece of metal with sufficient mass to absorb the constant pounding needed to shape your hot metal. Commercial anvils for true blacksmithing operations can be purchased, but they will usually cost between 250 FRNs to 500 FRNs. Cheaper cast iron anvils are on the market that can be purchased at discount hardware stores. A 50 or 60 pound anvil will cost below 70 FRNs, but their quality is such that they will not last long.
Fortunately, affordable expedient anvils can be had for much less. My favorite anvil is a 20” length of railroad track that I cut with an acetylene torch. (From a scrap metal yard. Do not cut your anvil from an existing track.) Get the cleanest length of track available. You do not want too much rust on the surface. Some blacksmiths will tell you to grind the top surface flat, but I found it unnecessary. The slightly rounded surface helps me to pound curves into my metal and does not detract from pounding straight angles or in drawing out the metal.
A length of railroad track makes an excellent anvil and performs extremely well.
You will want an anvil with a flat surface; however; when you need to straighten a length of metal. I found that a piece of I beam cut in the same fashion as the railroad track works better for this than anything I've ever seen. The I beam's surface is absolutely flat and straightens hot metal under a hammer with a bare minimum of effort. Together, the length of railroad track and the I beam cost me 5 FRNs from the scrap yard. I located and cut my own scrap. If you have someone else do this, it may cost you more.
An I beam's flat surface cannot be beat for straightening lengths of metal.
Needless to say, you cannot handle red-hot metal with your bare hands. A blacksmith uses tongs to pick up and hold hot metal. You will need a pair of these tools for this operation as well. Blacksmith's tongs can occasionally be found at garage sales and blacksmith's shops. My first pair was purchased for 8 FRNs from a blacksmith.
If you cannot find a pair of blacksmith's tongs for sale, you may temporarily use a pair of long handled pliers. Pliers are made of chrome plated hardened steel. This is not what you want for blacksmithing. The hardened steel will eventually loose it's temper due to the heat of the forge. Also, the steel of the pliers are usually too thin at the handles to absorb much pounding when the temper is lost. You may; however; use a pair of pliers to make a pair of tongs. This will be covered in a future issue. Blacksmith's tongs can be made from 1018, half inch diameter steel round stock.
To shape hot metal, you need to hit it with a hammer using a few basic techniques. This is best accomplished with a cross peen hammer. Though any hammer will suffice, you will not want a claw hammer, sheet rock hammer, or rock pick. Sledges do work very well. Ball peens can be used for special projects or regularly if a sledge or cross peen is not available.
The face of the ball peen and sledge hammers are more slightly beveled and flatter than other types which allow the user to hit more squarely or in a more direct motion in drawing out ridges, forming angles and shaping metal.
Another tool you will eventually need is a blacksmith's poker/rake/buddy. This is basically an Amish poker, except that it does not have a ninety degree bend in it's end. It's end down turns in a curve. It will function as the Amish poker does and serve as a coal rake, but will also allow the blacksmith to hook the ends of hot metal in it's curve to move from the forge to the anvil. More on making one in a future issue.
A blacksmith's buddy, blacksmith's tongs and cross peen hammer are the essential tools to begin your projects.
There are many more tools you will want as you become more experienced and enthused with blacksmithing. For the purpose of creating your first forge, we will concentrate on making the tools you will need in future issues.
With your forge built and tools at hand, you must be able to force air through the tuyere. In the days before electricity, a bellows or squirrel cage blower was used. These would be the best choices for the Independent American today, as well. Perhaps you just do not want the high electric bills or you wish to remove yourself from the dependency of the grid. Whichever your reason, it is prudent for Independent Americans to use technology that they can provide for themselves. More on building your own bellows in a future issue.
If you are able to provide your own electricity, there is an easy fix for a quick start. Simply use an old shop-vac. Connect it's hose to it's exhaust output, then place the end of the hose over the outside end of your pipe/tuyere. Turn the shop-vac on when heating your metal and off before moving your metal to the anvil.
A shop-vac being used as a blower.
You will need fuel for your forge. Coal or charcoal is best. Do not use store bought charcoal. It contains impurities that will contaminate your metal and cause it to become brittle.
You may purchase your fuel in either form and in the case of charcoal, you may pick it up off the ground in some southern states. I have found it lying in deposits right on top of the ground in Tennessee and North Carolina.
You can also make your own charcoal. Start by gathering some hardwood such as maple, oak, or hickory. In many cases willow is preferred. I have had good results with all hardwoods. Saw the wood to adequate length (between the span and half the span of a hand). Chop to different thicknesses, but no thicker than is long.
Next, you can either dig a fire pit or do as I do, which is use an old gas-burning grill with a lid with the gas components removed and the bottom lined with fire bricks. When I am sure the fire is burning adequately, I load the grill (or pit) with an abundance of hardwood and close the lid.
In the case of the fire pit, cover with dirt, leaving one or more small openings to act as chimneys. Allow to burn for some time, 15 minutes to half an hour depending on the size of your pit or grill. Check periodically. When the wood becomes blackened through most of its depth, but not fully consumed, you have charcoal fuel.
Depending on your project, you may need between one and three wheelbarrow loads of charcoal fuel.
If the hardwood is burning into ash, or becoming too fully consumed by the fire, you are allowing too much oxygen into the fire. If this happens, block off places that air is getting in with more dirt, or bricks. When you are satisfied that you are getting quality charcoal, remove your charcoal from the fire using tongs, and bury it in sand or dirt, or immerse it in water or, in the case of the fire pit, bury fully, blocking all air intake, and allow the fire to smother.
Congratulations. You are now the proud new owner of a forge and all of the essentials to begin making your own smithy. You will find the skills you build very helpful around the homestead and perhaps profitable should you decide to turn your new hobby into a business.
In future issues I will include projects that will make use of your forge.
Having fun with the forge.